1961

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“Peter Underwood Meets Norman Mailer.” Article-interview. British Books, November, 12-13, 15. Account of Mailer’s press conference at the offices of his British publisher, André Deutsch, on the occasion of the British publication of Advertisements for Myself (59.13). Mailer’s comments (mainly paraphrased) deal with American notions of success and the British censorship of a portion of 59.13. See 61.15, 61.17.

Untitled postscript to “The Time of Her Time” (original title: “Sergius and Denise”) Advertisements for Myself, 418-19. London: Deutsch, 29 September. When Deutsch published the British edition of Advertisements for Myself (59.13), the second part of “The Time of Her Time” (20 of 26 pages) was dropped because, as Mailer notes in his 400-word postscript, it “is the considered opinion of some of the best legal and literary names of the Realm” that “this piece cannot be printed in Britain” without holding up the book’s publication. Mailer goes on to challenge British writers to fight against the censorship which hides behind “good taste, caution and the public trust.” The full text of the story was restored in Britain in the 1968 Panther softcover edition. See 61.16, 74.19, 98.7.

“The First Day’s Interview.” Paris Review, no. 26 (summer-fall), 140-53. Self-interview. Mailer reprinted this piece, his first in Paris Review, in The Presidential Papers (63.37), and followed it with a much more ambitious self-interview, “The Metaphysics of the Belly.” He reprinted “The First Day’s Interview” again with “The Metaphysics of the Belly” in Cannibals and Christians (66.11),and added a third self-interview, “The Political Economy of Time” (66.11). All three self-interviews were prompted by his interest in the life and work of Pablo Picasso. Rpt: 88.6. See 95.37, 95.38.

“Sex and Censorship in Literature and the Arts.” Playboy, July, 27-28, 72, 74, 76, 88, 92, 95-99. Symposium contribution. First of many contributions. Rpt: As part of “Petty Notes on Some Sex in America” (66.11, 68.11, partial). See 62.11.